Plasma Cutter Fun!

Thanks to Robin MacIntosh and LeAnne Doljac for their riveting demonstrations of plasma cutting and connecting metals.

Robin brought the plasma cutter - her's is a small one, but was still the size of a shop compressor - plus a small shop table, heavy duty clamps, leather aprons and gauntlets, protective eye-wear and a bag of tins to cut. Everyone got a chance to try out cutting thin tin (the type used to package cookies or popcorn ).

The cutting produces sparks but was really pretty easy to cut various rough shapes. Fine control of the cutter obviously takes practice! as seen by these rough shapes.

LeAnne uses a much larger plasma cutter and cuts heavier metal salvaged from old cars! From this, she creates pieces with amazing detail, requiring a practiced hand to control cutting small details.
She brought some dog portraits - made from layering cut metal with pop rivets.

Her dog portraits looked so amazingly real it was hard to believe they were once car hoods.


 You can view more of LeAnne's work here. She demonstrated using riveting tools and pop-rivets as well as eyelets and other types of cold connections.

Robin uses smaller pieces of cut tin for making jewelry and wall art. This angel's wings were cut with the plasma cutter...

What fun we had! Thanks again to LeAnne and Robin.

Don't Forget the Meeting Tuesday March 15th

If you want to use the plasma cutter wear natural fibers as much as possible, the sparks from the torch will leave holes in manmade fibers. Shoes and socks to protect your feet. LeAnne will also be rehashing gorilla cold connecting inside. Let's hope it is dry and warm Tueday!

March 2011 - Plasma Cutters!

Get ready for some fun - at the March meeting Robin and LeAnne are bringing the plasma cutter! What's that??? Actually, so far I've not seen one, but plasma is a physics term referring to a physical state of mater. (solid, liquid, gas or plasma). Somehow, in a plasma cutter an inert gas is turned into plasma, and can be used to quickly and cleanly cut metal. and we're going to do it.

We'll also have some riveting tools available to try - from a demo done a couple years ago by Robin - you can cut pieces and rivet them together.

Bring something to cut (old cookie or cracker tins, metal kitchenware, etc.) and shape ideas (ovals, teardrops, circles, flowers, etc). The plasma cutter must be used outside, so we will have a cutting station outside and a riveting station inside. 

Be sure to wear cotton - long  pants, close-toed shoes, and no flying scarves etc. Safety first!